The West Yorkshire city of Bradford is front and centre of a new crime thriller about to debut on BBC One.
Virdee follows the trials and tribulations of police detective Harry Virdee as he tries to reconcile his work and family life in a city where tensions are running high and the lines between right and wrong are becoming blurred.
Based on the book City of Sinners by Amit Dhand, it stars Staz Nair as DCI Harry Virdee and Vikash Bhai as his drugs baron brother-in-law.
Dhand, who also wrote and created the series, said: “Virdee is an elevated thriller set in the city of Bradford which introduces DCI Harry Virdee, a formidable police detective who likes to break the rules but, ultimately, he’ll do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of his city and his family.”
The series showcases some of Bradford’s most famous landmarks as well as some of its secret sites.
And setting the scene is a title theme tune from multi award-winning composer Hans Zimmer.
DCI Harry Virdee must turn for help to his brother-in-law Riaz Hyatt (Photo: Vishal Sharma/BBC / Magical Society)Virdee tells the story of Detective Harry Virdee, a dedicated police office in Bradford whose personal life is in chaos.
He is in a loving relationship with his wife Saima but is estranged from his family who disapprove of his interfaith marriage. He is from a Sikh family and Saima is Muslim.
Meanwhile, a turf war is brewing in the underbelly of the city. The police are losing their grip on gang rivalries and it is beginning to spill over onto the streets of Bradford.
When a young dealer is brutally murdered, tensions among rival gangs are inflamed.
Harry’s duty to uphold the law starts to clash with his links to members of the crime gangs. He must hunt down whoever is targeting those around him.
And when the killer kidnaps a local MP’s daughter and holds the entire city to ransom, Harry realises he is going to need the help of his brother-in-law and drugs kingpin Riaz, who runs the largest cartel in the county. The pair are pulled together in an alliance which could ruin them both.
Harry faces a choice: save himself and his family or save his city.
He will not be able to do both.
Who is in the Virdee cast?
Staz Nair stars as Harry Virdee (Photo: David Gennard/ BBC / Magical Society)
Staz Nair stars as DCI Harry Virdee, a police detective estranged from his family and caught up in a turf war among gangs.
Nair said: “The story follows a cop who has been abandoned by his Sikh family for marrying the love of his life, Saima who is Muslim.
“Simultaneously, there is a serial killer who is systematically attacking the South Asian community and Bradford as a whole.
“Harry’s love for his family and his city will be challenged as he may only get to choose one.”
The British actor will be known to television audiences as Qhono, from the HBO series Game of Thrones.
He also played Gordon in Humans and William Dey in the superhero drama Supergirl.
Aysha Kala
Aysha Kala plays Saima Hyatt, DCI Virdee’s wife, in the show (Photo: Sam Taylor/BBC / Magical Society)Aysha Kala plays nurse Saima Hyatt in the show, DCI Virdee’s wife and the reason for his estrangement from his Sikh family.
Discussing her character, Kala said: “Saima starts the show very much in a family drama but where she ends the show is almost close to a horror, crime gangster drama.
“Her whole world flips upside down.
“The thing I love about her is that she has such a sense of who she is and what she can handle so she takes everything in her stride.”
The English actress, 34, rose to fame as Sita Desai in the Channel 4 series Shameless.
She also appeared as Sooni Dalal in Indian Summers and Ananya in The Doll Factory.
Vikash Bhai takes on the role of Riaz Hyatt (Photo: David Gennard/BBC / Magical Society)
Vikash Bhai plays Riaz Hyatt, DCI Virdee’s brother-in-law and the boss of the largest drugs cartel in the county.
Talking about his role, he said: “He’s a smart and successful businessman who believes he can help make his city a better place…But change doesn’t come easy, and as our show unravels – Riaz’s code of ‘business’ is challenged, his past may be coming back to haunt him and he has some very difficult decisions to make.”
Bhai played Martin Shral in Pandora and Chinar in Crossfire. He has also recently appeared as Eshaan Malik in the television film Men Up.
Danyal Ismail
Danyal Ismail appears as DSI Amin in Virdee. (Photo: David Gennar/.BBC / Magical Society)Danyal Ismail appears in Virdee as DSI Amin.
Ismail has described his character as “a man of action, front-footed and relentless in his duty, a proud Bradfordian who wants to clean the city the legal way”.
He added: “He acts on his intuition a little too much.
“He’s also intelligent, overachieving in even the most mundane tasks he’s given.
“His rigidity for the law will be tested in this city where the best of intentions can lead to dire consequences.”
This is not his first outing as police detective, he played DC Martin Malik in McDonald & Dodds and he appeared as Lewis Grant in the 2024 series Ridley.
Virdee’s cast also includes:
Elizabeth Berrington as DS Conway (Ridley, Henpocalypse, Sanditon) Sudha Bhuchar as Jyoti Videe (Eastenders, Coronation Street, Ridley) Kulvinder Ghir as Ranjit Virdee (Goodness Gracious Me, Still Open All Hours) Nina Singh as Tara Virdee-Duggal (The Lazarus Project, Chemistry of Death) Tomi May as Enzo Tobin (Headhunters, Joan) Hussina Raja as Nadia Hyatt (Man Like Mobeen, Informer) Andi Jashy as Vasil Shala (Gangs of London, The Gentlemen) Elaine Tan as Rebecca Armitage (The Lazarus Project, Acquitted) Connor Horrigan as Viktor (Man Like Mobeen) Tobias Jowett as young Harry Virdee (William Tell, Rain Dogs)Virdee is set and filmed in the West Yorkshire city of Bradford, home of the show’s creator and writer Amit Dhand and City of Culture 2025.
He said: “I selected most of the locations used in the series because I wanted to show my city off!
“I wanted to show the contrast between old Bradford and new Bradford.
“We go to City Park, where we have the biggest water fountains there are in England with the beautiful megastructure, which is new, fresh, colourful and vibrant.
“This is juxtaposed in the series with the nightmarish ruins and mills that haven’t been used for decades.
“There’s so much history in these mills too, around 200 years ago Bradford was one of the most powerful and richest cities in Europe – we made the curtains that were in the White House! “
“You see the decline of that industry in those mills but then you get to see new Bradford with City Park and the vibrancy of that.
“I was trying to choose locations that fed into the story which had an emotional backdrop to them that could mirror what was happening on screen.”
Virdee is set and filmed in the Yorkshire city of Bradford (Photo: David Gennard/BBC / Magical Society)Aside from the mills and City Park, Cartwright Hall, the underground tunnels of Sunbridge Wells, Bradford City Hall and the Khidmat Community Centre all formed part of the backdrop for filming of the series.
Staz Nair said: “Bradford was so welcoming, and everyone was so excited to part of it and understand what was going on, so I think that really inspired us all to continually put everything into it.”
When is Virdee on and how many episodes are there?
Virdee launches on BBC One on Monday 10 February at 9pm, with an hour-long episode.
This is a six-part series and the remaining episodes will be shown on successive Mondays.
All six episodes are also available to stream from Monday 10 February on the BBC iPlayer.
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